Western Newsroom

Mesa Verde National Park and other institutions across Colorado are working to return Native American ancestors and cultural items to tribal nations under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The story includes Western Colorado University’s own repatriation efforts, placing the university’s work within a broader movement toward more respectful stewardship, tribal consultation, and the return of ancestors to their communities.

Research from Western Colorado University and Colorado State University examining 3,500 wildfires across the American West found that fast-moving fires can cause long-term ecological damage by killing vast areas of conifer forest and leaving too few surviving trees nearby to reseed burned landscapes. The findings show how increasingly hot, dry conditions are contributing to extreme fire behavior that could fundamentally alter Colorado’s forests and make recovery more difficult.

New research from Western Colorado University and Colorado State University finds that large, fast-moving wildfires are making it increasingly difficult for Western forests to recover, with severely burned areas at risk of permanently shifting away from dense conifer forests. Drawing on data from 3,500 wildfires across the American West, the study shows how hotter, drier conditions are fueling rapid fire growth that kills trees across such large areas that natural reseeding and forest regeneration become significantly more difficult.